Is it me, or is BTC very slowly, but inexorably, shifting forward in a bit-by-bit manner? I mean, it seems to be doing it in baby-steps, but it's increasing steadily, isn't it? So where is it going to stop? Is this being caused by the latest BTC conference and various advocates, who are presently proselytising?...What do you think it will get to, ultimately, this time? And where do the bucks stop? $3?.. $3.5?... $4?? $5!!

Seriously, though... I have trouble trusting the recent price rally given how we got where we are. The push from 2.50 to 3+ that we saw over the past few days was made possible almost entirely by a couple of huge bidwalls - one at 2.65 a couple days ago, and now one at 2.90. So, as long as that bidwall is up, there's no way to be sure that the price isn't just being propped up where it is.

If there is something that will make Bitcoin succeed, it is growth of utility - greater quantity and variety of goods and services offered for BTC. If there is something that will make Bitcoin fail, it is the prevalence of users convinced that BTC is a magic box that will turn them into millionaires, and of the con-artists who have followed them here to devour them.

This is a chart (as of about a day ago) of people's asking prices for Bitcoins. The "asks" are the prices for which people are willing to sell their Bitcoins, and the "bids" are the prices people are willing to pay for Bitcoins. Now, look at the "bid" part of the graph. See that huge step up at about $2.90? Most of that is coming from a single buyer, who has claimed he is willing to buy a massive number of bitcoins (about 40k if I'm reading it right) at that price. Up until about a day ago, such a bid existed at $2.65, keeping the price of Bitcoins from falling below that. With that floor in place, the price worked its way up to $3 over the course of a few days, at which point the enormous bid at $2.65 vanished and was replaced by one at $2.90. To me, this looks like someone with a lot of money deliberately trying to ratchet up the price of Bitcoins for reasons unknown... which means that as soon as he decides it's no longer worth his time, all of that support at $2.90 will vanish, and who knows what'll happen to the price then.

If there is something that will make Bitcoin succeed, it is growth of utility - greater quantity and variety of goods and services offered for BTC. If there is something that will make Bitcoin fail, it is the prevalence of users convinced that BTC is a magic box that will turn them into millionaires, and of the con-artists who have followed them here to devour them.

To me, this looks like someone with a lot of money deliberately trying to ratchet up the price of Bitcoins for reasons unknown... which means that as soon as he decides it's no longer worth his time, all of that support at $2.90 will vanish, and who knows what'll happen to the price then.

Yeah one such 'unknown reason' could be that a genuine buyer and long-term bitcoin bull is putting it there to give the opportunity for any big sellers to sell into it.The placer of that wall may well be putting in many smaller bids in front of it all the time to pick up coins.

By having a wall just below where they are buying, they give themselves feedback that their buying is not driving the price to excessive levels, because presumably big coin-holders would have dumped into it already if that were the case.

Without the wall - their average buy price may in fact have been higher due to coin sellers merely trickling them out because the sellers don't want to risk crashing the price.You could argue that the buyer should test the price, or try to get a lower price, by 'vanishing' the wall altogether every now and then - but it's possible that a sudden drop is not in their interests either, as they'd rather their own buying activity set up some momentum for some subsequent gains and they'd rather not contribute to bitcoin instability or another stretch of decline.

http://i.imgur.com/cOfFM.pngThis is a chart (as of about a day ago) of people's asking prices for Bitcoins. The "asks" are the prices for which people are willing to sell their Bitcoins, and the "bids" are the prices people are willing to pay for Bitcoins. Now, look at the "bid" part of the graph. See that huge step up at about $2.90? Most of that is coming from a single buyer, who has claimed he is willing to buy a massive number of bitcoins (about 40k if I'm reading it right) at that price. Up until about a day ago, such a bid existed at $2.65, keeping the price of Bitcoins from falling below that. With that floor in place, the price worked its way up to $3 over the course of a few days, at which point the enormous bid at $2.65 vanished and was replaced by one at $2.90. To me, this looks like someone with a lot of money deliberately trying to ratchet up the price of Bitcoins for reasons unknown... which means that as soon as he decides it's no longer worth his time, all of that support at $2.90 will vanish, and who knows what'll happen to the price then.

Someone else brought up a good explanation for the bidwall activity. Someone puts up a big bidwall ~50k. Others put their bids around it like they usually do, the person with the big bid wall waits for those to build up, then removes his big wall and sells into what is left.